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I guess this is where it all begins… again. I have no doubt that you, my faithful reader, have already seen the recent announcement on my departure from Mobile Nations and the webOS Community. It has been a very long time coming to this decision, as I’ve said elsewhere and as others in the world of webOS have said in their own departure messages, but it was a very necessary decision if I am to make way for the future. I’m 23 years old, and life is just now starting to get really interesting. I would be foolish to hold the future back.

But this post isn’t meant to be another reiteration of what I’ve already said. I’m of the “make a decision and move” kind of attitude, so now is the time to put the past behind me and get to work going forward. I could certainly do that without a blog, but I’ve made a lot of friends over the last few years who want to keep in touch with me, and whom I want to keep in touch with. A blog is a great way to make that happen. Plus, as has been said a dozen times before, I enjoy writing. I am going to be writing this blog, albeit not too frequently, and I hope that you will subscribe and enjoy a conversation or two with me.

Free drink to the person who can guess my favorite beer.

A month ago I started my new position at the brand new Taste restaurant in Dayton as a Bartender. Within a week I was working the day-shift as a waiter, and not long after that I was in the back of the kitchen prepping the food for the chef before the week’s start. At any given moment when you come into this restaurant you might see me behind the bar, serving customers around the house, prepping food in the back of the kitchen or working on the company’s online presence (through Social Networks or the Website). Soon you might even see me up on the stage, singing a few songs with the live Jazz bands that show up 4 days a week.

The restaurant has a cajun, creole cuisine and is located in a town with no other really great up-scale dining experiences available. This is the challenge and the type of restaurant that I was looking for, because as you may have already guessed, this is the career path that I have a lot of desire to follow-through with. The experiences and education that I will get while at Taste are superior than any I could get by just going to school or working in a chain. It has been my dream since I was just a wee-lad to open a classy restaurant, and while I may not be the owner of Taste, I am helping to make the launch of this restaurant a success. My dream is already coming true, but I’ll share more on that later.

Pasta Jambalaya is one of my favorite dishes served here.

Obviously, I can’t pass on the opportunity to go back to school and finish my degree, so I’ll be doing that as well. Culinary Arts is on my list of things to tackle, as is Business Management (both of which I’d already started working towards finishing in the past). In just over a year, I will have that simple piece of paper in my hand that says I can cook a sandwich, and it won’t be long until I can open my own restaurant somewhere that is not Dayton, Ohio (location to be decided). There’s a family movie out there somewhere of me in front of a few hundred people announcing what I want to do “when I grow up”. “Be a chef!” I said. I kind of think that “little me” would be happy to see what I’m doing today.

Now, to answer the question that is probably on everyone’s minds; what about my interest in mobile tech and gadgets? I have spent the last three years of my life in the mobile tech world, and it has been one of the greatest experiences that I’ve had. Contrary to what some of my friends may believe, the things I’ve learned while following the development of mobile platforms can definitely be used in creating a successful restaurant (so I don’t believe that any of that time was a waste, at all). I still enjoy mobile devices, specifically because of their power to enhance communication and efficiency between humans. In the same way that my restaurant is centered around serving people, mobile devices should be centered around connecting people and keeping communities alive and thriving.

This image was made for one of my first articles on PreCentral - Click to read it.

That said, I will still be watching the mobile world to see what happens next. I may even write an editorial or two on certain topics/events that I find worthy of discussing. I will not, however, be giving it my full attention as I have in the past. Smartphones and tablets will be used as tools to make me a more proficient restaurateur, and I do plan on eventually building some nice apps to complement the work that I’m doing (why let that skill go to waste?). I will not tie myself to a single platform any longer, as I had in the past with webOS, because I learned very clearly through this last year that mobile platforms simply will not last for very long – even the good ones. What will last is your relationships with people, and that is where I want to put my focus.

Right now I’m running a Samsung Nexus S as my daily driver, with Ice Cream Sandwich installed and plenty of apps that keep me organized and on task. Because I use Google services for everything on my desktop, using an Android device (even if I don’t use many apps) doesn’t just mean that I’m using a good smartphone, it means I’m a more efficient person in my day-to-day life (this would also be true if I used all Apple services and had an iPhone, or if webOS services worked optimally, etc…). I still have my HP TouchPad as well, which I will use in the mornings for reading the news or watching videos, and I do plan on getting a MacBook at some point in the future. I’ll have the best of every world – and in my life, that means I can do more, faster and better than anyone else.

Honestly, life is still up in the air for me. I’m excited, really excited, about what I’m doing right now (and I’m equally satisfied with what I’ve already done). Whatever happens, I know that there are a lot of great people out there cheering for my success. Thanks for that, and please don’t be a stranger now that I’m stepping out of the world of mobile tech. Seriously… that would be lame. Catch me on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook, and don’t forget to subscribe to my blog, then let me know who you are so I can do the same.